a summer folk concert

I have several pictures to go through from our short trip to Luray last week.  But today, Ariel & I went to see Elizabeth Mitchell and her band You Are My Flower at Wolf Trap National Park.  You can hear her music here:

 http://youaremyflower.org/

My friend in Tokyo, Elizabeth Moxon, recommended her music for children, and we took her "You Are My Flower" album to China.  So it was some of the first music we listened to with Ariel.

 Elizabeth is on the left, then her daughter Storey, other children and friends in the middle, her husband Dan on guitar, brother-in-law on percussion, and Jean on violin.

Ariel enjoyed the lively and soothing folk music, including many Woody Guthrie songs.  She fell asleep about halfway through. 

 After the show, we played by a creek and got to meet Elizabeth and Storey.

After a day of fun, rain, and sun, we checked our pumpkin patch!

Xinran author talk at Library of Congress

Last month, I was able to attend a mid-day talk at the Library of Congress with Xinran, a Chinese author.  She founded Mothers Bridge of Love and has written several books.  She grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution and hosted a radio show there before moving to the UK and then Australia.  

She writes about Chinese people, culture, and especially about Chinese women, their children, and Chinese adoptees all over the world.  I enjoyed meeting her and many other mothers (and a few older girls) who attended the talk.  Jeff took the day off work to take care of Ariel so I could spend a day in the city.